The Independence of Georgia was restored in 1991. Like many
post-communist countries Georgia
suffered from the economic crisis and civil unrest during the 1990s. After the
bloodless Rose Revolution, however,
the new leadership has established efficient government
institutions, reformed the economy and guided the country through a
period of the fastest economic growth in its history.

The native Georgian name for the country is Sakartvelo
(საქართველო). The word consists of two parts. Its root,
kartvel-i (ქართველ-ი), specifies an inhabitant of the core
central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli –
Iberia of the Classical and Byzantine sources. By the early 9th
century, the meaning of "Kartli" was expanded to other areas of
medieval Georgia held together by religion, culture, and language.
The Georgian circumfixsa-X-o is a standard geographic construction
designating "the area where X dwell", where X is an ethnonym. (For another example, the Mingrelian minority in Georgia lives in
Samegrelo.) The term
Sakartvelo came to signify the all-Georgian cultural and
political unity early in the 11th century and firmly entered
regular official usage in the 13th century.

The country took its name from that of Saint George, itself a derivative of the
aforementioned Greek root. Or, at the very least, the popularity of
the cult of Saint George in Georgia influenced the spread of the
term.

Under various Persian empires (536 BC-AD 638), Georgians were
called Gurjhān (Gurzhan/Gurjan), or "Gurj/Gurzh people." The early
Islamic/Arabic sources spelled the name Kurz/Gurz and the country
Gurjistan (see Baladhuri, Tabari, Jayhani, Istakhri, Ibn Hawqal,
etc.). The contemporary Russian name for the country, "Gruziya," is
similar. This also could evolve or at least contribute to the later
name of Georgia. The Russian name was brought into contemporary
Hebrew as גרוזיה ("Gruziya"). It coexisted
with the names גיאורגיה ("Gheorghia" with two hard g's) and גורג'יה
(Gurjia), when "Gruziya" took over in the 1970s, probably due to a
massive immigration of bilingual Georgian-Russian Jews to Israel at
that time. In August 2005 the Georgian ambassador to Israel
demanded that Hebrew speakers refer to his country as "Gheorghia"
and abandon the name "Gruziya". Consequently, Israeli authorities
and most Hebrew newspapers in Israel changed their name
preference.

Modern Georgian states have used differing names in different
periods. The first modern Georgian state proclaimed on
May 26, 1918 adopted the name Democratic
Republic of Georgia.As part of the USSR from
February 25, 1921, the country was called the Georgian Soviet Socialist
Republic. When Georgia broke from the USSR on
December 25, 1991, it adopted the name Republic of
Georgia. Since it adopted its present constitution on August
24, 1995, the official name of the country is simply
Georgia.

History

Prehistory

Left

The territory of modern-day Georgia has been continuously inhabited since the early
Stone Age. The classic period saw the rise of the early
Georgian states of Colchis and Iberia. The proto-Georgian tribes first
appear in written history in the 12th century BC. Archaeological
finds and references in ancient sources reveal elements of early
political and state formations characterized by advanced metallurgy
and goldsmith techniques that date back to the 7th century BC and
beyond. In the 4th century BC a unified kingdom of Georgia - an
early example of advanced state organization under one king and the
hierarchy of aristocracy, was established.

Christianity was declared the state
religion as early as AD 337 proving a great stimulus to literature,
arts and the unification of the country. Being at the crossroads of
Christian and Islamic traditions, Georgia experienced the dynamic
exchange between these two worlds which culminated in a true
renaissance around 12-13th centuries.

The two early Georgian kingdoms of late antiquity, known to ancient Greeks and Romans as Iberia ( ) (in the east of the country) and
Colchis ( ) (in the west), were among the
first nations in the region to adopt Christianity (in AD 337, or in AD 319 as recent
research suggests).In Greek
Mythology, Colchis was the location of the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts in
Apollonius Rhodius' epic tale
Argonautica. The incorporation
of the Golden Fleece into the myth may have derived from the local
practice of using fleeces to sift gold dust from rivers. In the
last centuries of the pre-Christian era, the area, in the form of
the kingdom of Kartli-Iberia, was
strongly influenced by Greece to the west and Persia to the
east.

After the Roman Empire completed its
conquest of the Caucasus region in 66 BC, the kingdom was a Roman
client state and ally for nearly 400 years. In AD 330, King Mirian III's acceptance of
Christianity ultimately tied the kingdom to the neighboring
Byzantine Empire, which exerted a strong cultural influence for
several centuries.

Known to its natives as Egrisi or Lazica, Colchis was often the battlefield and buffer-zone between the rival
powers of Persia and Byzantine Empire, with the control of the
region shifting hands back and forth several times. The early
kingdoms disintegrated into various feudal regions by the early
Middle Ages. This made it easy for
Arabs to conquer Georgia in the 7th
century. The rebellious regions were liberated and united into a
unified Georgian Kingdom at the beginning of the 11th century.
Starting
in the 12th century, the rule of Georgia extended over a
significant part of the Southern Caucasus,
including the northeastern parts and almost the entire northern
coast of what is now Turkey.

Although Arabs captured the capital city of
Tbilisi in AD 645, Kartli-Iberia retained considerable independence
under local Arab rulers. In AD 813, the prince Ashot I also known
as Ashot Kurapalat became the first of the Bagrationi family to
rule the kingdom: Ashot's reign began a period of nearly 1,000
years during which the Bagrationi, as the house was known, ruled at
least part of what is now the republic.

Western and eastern Georgia were united under Bagrat V (r.
1027-72). In the next century, David IV (called the Builder, r.
1089-1125) initiated the Georgian golden age by driving the
Seljuk Turks from the country and
expanding Georgian cultural and political influence southward into
Armenia and eastward to the Caspian Sea.

Middle Ages

Queen Tamar as depicted on a mural
from the Vardzia monastery

Kingdom of Georgia at peak of its
military dominance, 1184-1225

The Georgian Kingdom reached its zenith in the 12th to early 13th
centuries. This period has been widely termed as Georgia's Golden
Age or Georgian Renaissance during the reign of David the Builder and Queen Tamar. This early Georgian
renaissance, which preceded its European analogue, was
characterized by the flourishing of romantic- chivalric tradition,
breakthroughs in philosophy, and an array of political innovations
in society and state organization, including religious and ethnic
tolerance. The Golden age of Georgia left a legacy of great
cathedrals, romantic poetry and literature, and the epic poem
"The Knight in the
Panther's Skin". The struggle against the Seljuk invaders was led by David the Builder,
who employed tens of thousands Kipchak soldiers and settled them, in
1118, in his kingdom.

The
revival of the Georgian Kingdom was short-lived however, in 1226
Tblisi was captured
by Mingburnu and the Kingdom was
eventually subjugated by the Mongols in 1236
(see Mongol invasions of
Georgia). Thereafter, different local rulers fought for
their independence from central Georgian rule, until the total
disintegration of the Kingdom in the 15th century. Georgia was
subjected, between 1386 and 1404, to several disastrous invasions by Timur.
Neighbouring kingdoms exploited the situation and from the 16th
century, the Persian Empire and the
Ottoman Empire subjugated the eastern
and western regions of Georgia, respectively.

The rulers of regions which remained partly autonomous organized rebellions on various
occasions. Subsequent Persian and Ottoman invasions further
weakened local kingdoms and regions. As a result of wars the
population of Georgia was reduced to 250,000 inhabitants at one
point. Eastern
Georgia, composed of the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti, had been under the Persian suzerainty since
1555. However, with the death of Nader
Shah "The Persian Napoleon" in 1747, both kingdoms broke free
of the Persian control and were reunified through a personal union
under the energetic king Heraclius II in
1762.

Georgia in the Russian Empire

In 1783, Russia and the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, according to
which Kartli-Kakheti received protection by Russia. Despite
Russia's commitment to defend Georgia, it rendered no assistance
when the Turks and Persians invaded in 1785 and again in 1795
completely devastated Tbilisi and massacred its inhabitants. This
period culminated in the 1801 Russian violation of Treaty of
Georgievsk and annexation of entire Georgian lands, followed the
deposing of the Bagrationi dynasty and
suppression of the Georgian church.

On
December 22, 1800, TsarPaul I of Russia, at the alleged request of
the Georgian King George
XII, signed the proclamation on the incorporation of Georgia
(Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire, which was finalized by a decree on January 8,
1801, and confirmed by Tsar Alexander I on September 12,
1801.The Georgian envoy in Saint
Petersburg reacted with a note of protest that was presented
to the Russian vice-chancellor Prince Kurakin. In May 1801,
Russian General Carl Heinrich
Knorring dethroned the Georgian heir to the throne David Batonishvili and instituted a government
headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lasarev.

The
Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until April 1802 when
General Knorring compassed the nobility in Tbilisi's
Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the Imperial Crown of Russia.
Those who disagreed were arrested temporarily.

In the
summer of 1805, Russian troops on the Askerani River near Zagam defeated the Persian army and saved Tbilisi from conquest.

Western Georgian principalities of Mingrelia and Guria assumed the Russian protection
in 1800s. Finally in 1810, after a brief war, the western Georgian
kingdom of Imereti was annexed by
Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
The last Imeretian king and the last Georgian Bagrationi ruler Solomon II died in exile in 1815.
From 1803
to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars against Turkey and Iran, several
territories were annexed to Georgia.These areas (Batumi, Akhaltsikhe, Poti, and
Abkhazia) now represent a large part of the territory of
Georgia.The principality of Guria was
abolished in 1828, and that of Samegrelo
(Mingrelia) in 1857.The region of Svaneti was gradually annexed in 1857–59.

Declaration of independence

Democratic Republic of Georgia,
1918-1921

Declaration of independence by the
Georgian parliament, 1918

After the Russian Revolution
of 1917, Georgia declared independence on May 26, 1918 in the
midst of the Russian Civil War.
The parliamentary election was won by the Georgian
Social-Democratic Party, considered to be pro-Mensheviks, and its leader, Noe Zhordania, became prime minister. In 1918
a Georgian–Armenian war
erupted over parts of Georgian provinces populated mostly by
Armenians which ended due to British intervention. In 1918–19 Georgian
general Giorgi Mazniashvili led
a Georgian attack against the White Army led by Moiseev and Denikin
in order to claim the Black
Sea coastline from Tuapse to Sochi and Adler for independent Georgia. The country's
independence did not last long, however. Georgia was under British
protection from 1918-1920.

Georgia in the Soviet Union

Soviet Invasion In Georgia (Feb.

26.

- Mar.

13) 1921

In February 1921 Georgia was attacked by the Red Army. The Georgian army was defeated and the
Social-Democrat government fled the country. On February 25, 1921
the Red Army entered capital Tbilisi and installed a Moscow directed communist
government, led by Georgian Bolshevik Filipp Makharadze. Nevertheless the
Soviet rule was firmly established only after a 1924 revolt was brutally
suppressed. Georgia was incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR uniting Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan. The TSFSR was disaggregated into its
component elements in 1936 and Georgia became the Georgian SSR.

The Dissidential movement for restoration of Georgian statehood
started to gain popularity in the 1960s. Among the Georgian
dissidents, two of the most prominent activists were Merab Kostava and Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Dissidents were
heavily persecuted by Soviet government, and their activities were
harshly suppressed.

On April 9, 1989, a peaceful demonstration in the Georgian capital
Tbilisi ended in a massacre in which
several people were killed by Soviet troops. Before the October
1990 elections to the national assembly, the Umaghlesi
Sabcho (Supreme Council) — the first polls in the USSR held on
a formal multi-party basis — the political landscape was reshaped
again. While the more radical groups boycotted the elections and
convened an alternative forum with alleged support of Moscow
(National Congress), another part of the anticommunist opposition
united into the Round Table—Free Georgia (RT-FG) around the former
dissidents like Merab Kostava and
Zviad Gamsakhurdia. The latter
won the elections by a clear margin, with 155 out of 250
parliamentary seats, whereas the ruling Communist Party (CP)
received only 64 seats. All other parties failed to get over the
5%-threshold and were thus allotted only some single-member
constituency seats.

Georgia after restoration of independence

April 9 Poster

On April 9, 1991, shortly before the collapse of the USSR, Georgia
declared independence. On May 26, 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected as a first
President of independent Georgia. Gamsakhurdia stoked Georgian
nationalism and vowed to assert Tbilisi's authority over regions
such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia that had been classified as
autonomous oblasts under the Soviet Union.
However, he was soon deposed in a bloody coup d'état, from December 22, 1991 to
January 6, 1992. The coup was instigated by part of the National
Guards and a paramilitary organization called "Mkhedrioni" or "horsemen". The country became
embroiled in a bitter civil war
which lasted almost until 1995. Eduard Shevardnadze returned to Georgia
in 1992 and joined the leaders of the coup — Kitovani and Ioseliani
— to head a triumvirate called the "State Council".

In 1995, Shevardnadze was officially elected as president of
Georgia. At the same time, simmering disputes within
two regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, between local separatists and the majority
Georgian populations, erupted into widespread inter-ethnic violence
and wars.Supported by Russia, Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, with the exception of some "pockets" of
territory, achieved de facto independence from Georgia.Roughly
230,000 to 250,000 Georgians were expelled from
Abkhazia by Abkhaz separatists and North Caucasians
volunteers (including Chechens) in 1992-1993.Around 23,000
Georgians fled South
Ossetia as well, and many Ossetian families were forced to
abandon their homes in the Borjomi region and move to Russia.

In 2003, Shevardnadze (who won reelection in 2000) was deposed by
the Rose Revolution, after Georgian
opposition and international monitors asserted that the November 2
parliamentary elections were marred by fraud. The revolution was
led by Mikheil Saakashvili,
Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze, former members and leaders
of Shevardnadze's ruling party. Mikheil Saakashvili was elected as
President of Georgia in 2004.

Following the Rose Revolution, a series of reforms was launched to
strengthen the country's military and economic capabilities. The
new government's efforts to reassert Georgian authority in the
southwestern autonomous republic of Ajaria
led to a major crisis early in 2004.
Success
in Ajaria encouraged Saakashvili to intensify his efforts, but
without success, in the breakaway South Ossetia. These events along with accusations of
Georgian involvement in the Second
Chechen War, resulted in a severe deterioration of relations with Russia, fuelled
also by Russia's open assistance and support to the two
secessionists areas. Despite these increasingly difficult
relations, in May 2005 Georgia and Russia reached a bilateral
agreement by which Russian military bases (dating back to the
Soviet era) in Batumi and Akhalkalaki were withdrawn. Russia fulfilled the terms,
withdrawing all personnel and equipment from these sites by
December 2007, ahead of schedule.

2008 military conflict with Russia

In July
2008, hostilities
escalated between Georgia and its breakaway state of South Ossetia, with increases in missile bombardment of Georgian
villages by Ossetian separatists. Russia and Georgia had
each amassed larger military forces near their respective borders
with South Ossetia. After the Georgian bombing of the South
Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali in the late evening of August
7, Georgian armed forces began pushing into South Ossetia,
supported by their artillery and multiple rocket
launcher fire. Russia reported that several Russian
peacekeepers stationed in South Ossetia were killed. At dawn of August 8
forces of the Russian 58th Army entered
South Ossetia through the Russian-controlled Roki tunnel, and the Russian air-force launched a series of
coordinated air strikes
against multiple targets within Georgian territory. As
justification for their invasion and air strikes, Russia also
claimed the Georgian army was responsible for killing 1,600 South
Ossetian civilians. However, these allegations have not been
substantiated, and Human Rights Watch investigators in South
Ossetia accused Russia of exaggerating the scale of such
casualties.

As Russia and Georgia both sent troops into South Ossetia, the conflict between
Georgia on the one side and Russia, Ossetian, and later, Abkhazian
separatists on the other quickly escalated into the full scale
2008 war. Due to the
intensive fighting in South Ossetia there were many disputed
reports about the number of casualties on both sides, which targets
had fallen under aerial attacks, the status of troop movements, and
the most current location of the front line between the Georgian
and Russian-Ossetian combat units.After a few days of heavy
fighting Georgian troops were driven from South Ossetia. The
advance of Russian forces from South Ossetia into undisputed
Georgia territory was accompanied by unverified reports of looting,
burning, and killing of civilians by Russian military and
accompanying irregulars. By August 11, Russian military troops in
Abkhazia, the other separatist Georgian province, executed a
second invasion and seized additional territory in Western
Georgia. On August 12, President Medvedev announced an intent to halt further
Russian military operations in Georgia.

Mountains are the dominant geographic feature of Georgia.
The
Likhi
Range divides the country into eastern and western
halves. Historically, the western portion of Georgia was
known as Colchis while the eastern plateau
was called Iberia. Due to a complex
geographic setting, mountains also isolate the northern region of
Svaneti from the rest of Georgia.

The
Greater Caucasus Mountain Range separates Georgia from the North Caucasian Republics of Russia.The main
roads through the mountain range into Russian territory lead
through the Roki
Tunnel between South and North Ossetia and the Darial Gorge (in the Georgian region of Khevi). The Roki Tunnel was vital for the
Russian military in the 2008
South Ossetia War.

The
highest mountain in Georgia is Mount Shkhara at , and the second highest is Mount Janga (Jangi-Tau) at above sea level.Other prominent peaks
include Kazbegi (Kazbek) at ,
Tetnuldi ( ), Shota Rustaveli ( ), Mt.Ushba ( ), and
Ailama ( ).Out of
the abovementioned peaks, only Kazbegi is of volcanic
origin.The region between Kazbegi and Shkhara (a distance of about along the Main Caucasus Range)
is dominated by numerous glaciers. Out of the 2,100 glaciers
that exist in the Caucasus today, approximately 30% are located
within Georgia.

The term,
Lesser
Caucasus Mountains is often
used to describe the mountainous (highland) areas of southern
Georgia that are connected to the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range
by the Likhi Range. The area can be split into two separate
sub-regions; the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, which run parallel to
the Greater Caucasus Range, and the Southern Georgia Volcanic
Highland, which lies immediately to the south of the Lesser
Caucasus Mountains. The overall region can be characterized as
being made up of various, interconnected mountain ranges (largely
of volcanic origin) and plateaus that do
not exceed in elevation. Prominent features of the area include the
Javakheti Volcanic
Plateau, lakes, including Tabatskuri and Paravani, as well as
mineral water and hot springs. The Southern Georgia Volcanic
Highland is a young and unstable geologic region with high seismic
activity and has experienced some of the most significant
earthquakes that have been recorded in Georgia.

The
Voronya
Cave (aka Krubera-Voronia Cave) is the deepest known
cave in the world.It is located in the
Arabika Massif of the Gagra Range, in Abkhazia. In 2001, a Russian–Ukrainian team had set
the world depth record for a cave at . In 2004, the
penetrated depth was increased on each of three expeditions, when a
Ukrainian team crossed the mark for the first time in the
history of speleology. In October
2005, an unexplored part was found by the CAVEX team, further
increasing the known depth of the cave. This expedition confirmed
the known depth of the cave at (± ).

Topography

The Aragvi River Gorge

The landscape within the nation's boundaries is quite varied.
Western Georgia's landscape ranges from low-land marsh-forests,
swamps, and temperate rain
forests to eternal snows and glaciers, while the eastern part
of the country even contains a small segment of semi-arid plains
characteristic of Central Asia. Forests cover around 40% of
Georgia's territory while the alpine/subalpine
zone accounts for roughly around 10% of the land.

Much of the natural habitat in the low-lying areas of Western
Georgia has disappeared over the last 100 years due to the
agricultural development of the land and urbanization. The large
majority of the forests that covered the Colchis plain are now virtually non-existent with
the exception of the regions that are included in the national
parks and reserves (e.g. Paleostomi Lake area). At present, the
forest cover generally remains outside of the low-lying areas and
is mainly located along the foothills and the mountains. Western
Georgia's forests consist mainly of deciduous trees below above sea
level and comprise of species such as oak,
hornbeam, beech, elm, ash, and chestnut.
Evergreen species such as box may also be
found in many areas. Ca. 1000 of all 4000 higher plants of Georgia
are endemic in this country. The west-central slopes of the Meskheti Range in Ajaria as well as several locations in Samegrelo and Abkhazia are covered by temperate rain forests.
Between above sea level, the deciduous forest becomes mixed with
both broad-leaf and coniferous species making up the plant life.
The zone is made up mainly of beech, spruce, and fir
forests. From , the forest becomes largely coniferous. The tree
line generally ends at around and the alpine zone takes over, which
in most areas, extends up to an elevation of above sea level. The
eternal snow and glacier zone lies above the
3,000 meter line.

Eastern
Georgia's landscape (referring to the territory east of the
Likhi Range) is considerably different from that of the
west.Although, much like the Colchis plain in the west, nearly all of the
low-lying areas of eastern Georgia including the Mtkvari and Alazani River plains have been deforested for agricultural
purposes.In addition, due to the region's relatively
drier climate, some of the low-lying plains (especially in Kartli and south-eastern Kakheti) were never covered by forests in the first
place. The general landscape of eastern Georgia comprises
numerous valleys and gorges that are separated by mountains. In
contrast with western Georgia, nearly 85% of the forests of the
region are deciduous. Coniferous forests only dominate in the
Borjomi Gorge and in the extreme
western areas. Out of the deciduous species of trees, beech, oak, and hornbeam dominate. Other deciduous species include
several varieties of maple, aspen, ash, and hazelnut.
The Upper
Alazani River Valley contains yew forests.At higher elevations
above above sea level (particularly in the Tusheti, Khevsureti, and Khevi regions), pine and birch forests
dominate. In general, the forests in eastern Georgia occur
between above sea level, with the alpine zone extending from to .
The only
remaining large, low-land forests remain in the Alazani Valley of Kakheti. The eternal snow and glacier zone lies above the line in most areas of
eastern Georgia.

Climate

The local climate is excellent for
wine-making and there are 500 different kinds of wine in
Georgia

The climate of Georgia is extremely diverse, considering the
nation's small size. There are two main climatic zones, roughly
separating Eastern and Western parts of the country. The Greater
Caucasus Mountain Range plays an important role in moderating
Georgia's climate and protects the nation from the penetration of
colder air masses from the north. The Lesser Caucasus Mountains
partially protect the region from the influence of dry and hot air
masses from the south as well.

Much of western Georgia lies within the northern periphery of the
humid subtropical zone with annual precipitation ranging from . The
precipitation tends to be uniformly distributed throughout the
year, although the rainfall can be particularly heavy during the
Autumn months. The climate of the region varies significantly with
elevation and while much of the lowland areas of western Georgia
are relatively warm throughout the year, the foothills and
mountainous areas (including both the Greater and Lesser Caucasus
Mountains) experience cool, wet summers and snowy winters (snow
cover often exceeds 2 meters in many regions). Ajaria is the wettest region of the Caucasus, where the Mt. Mtirala rainforest, east of Kobuleti receives around of precipitation per
year.

Eastern Georgia has a transitional climate from humid subtropical
to continental. The region's weather patterns are influenced both
by dry, Central Asian/Caspian air masses from the east and humid,
Black Sea air masses from the west. The penetration of humid air masses from
the Black Sea is often blocked by several mountain ranges (Likhi and
Meskheti) that separate the eastern and
western parts of the nation. Annual precipitation is
considerably less than that of western Georgia and ranges from .
The wettest periods generally occur during Spring and Autumn while
Winter and the Summer months tend to be the driest. Much of eastern
Georgia experiences hot summers (especially in the low-lying areas)
and relatively cold winters. As in the western parts of the nation,
elevation plays an important role in eastern Georgia where climatic
conditions above are considerably colder than in the low-lying
areas. The regions that lie above frequently experience frost even
during the summer months.

Regions

Map of Georgia with the autonomous republics of Abkhazia (de facto
independent) and Adjara, and South Ossetia (de facto independent
region, officially termed Tskhinvali region by the Georgian
authorities)

Georgia is divided into 9 regions and 2 autonomous republics. These
in turn are subdivided into 69 districts.

Autonomous republics

Currently, the status of South Ossetia, an autonomous administrative district (also known
as the Tskhinvali region), is being negotiated with the
Russian-supported separatist government. Recently, these
negotiations have broken down in light of Russia's decision to
reinforce the region militarily and give Russian passports to South
Ossetians. The government of Georgia has expressed that it views
these moves as attempts by Russia to annex the region effectively.
The
Georgian government levels the same criticism against Russian
involvement in Abkhazia, another breakaway region; Abkhazia has the status
of an autonomous republic, but operates as a de facto state.
This condition follows the ethnic cleansing of at least 200,000
Georgians in the War in Abkhazia in
1992-1993. Adjara gained autonomy
unilaterally under local strongman Aslan
Abashidze with help from a Russian military brigade located on
a base in Adjara. Current Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili restored the region
to Georgian control after a local uprising against Abashidze's
perceived corruption.

Government and politics

The executive branch of power
is made up of the President and
the Cabinet of Georgia. The
Cabinet is composed of ministers, headed by the Prime Minister, and appointed by
the President. Notably, the ministers of defense and interior are
not members of the Cabinet and are subordinated directly to the
President of Georgia.

Legislative authority is vested in the
Parliament of Georgia. It is
unicameral and has 150 members, known as deputies, from which 75
members are proportional representatives and 75 are elected through
single-member district plurality system, representing their
constituencies. Members of parliament are elected for 5 five-year
term.

Official Residence and Principal
Workplace of the President of Georgia

Despite considerable progress made since the Rose revolution Georgia is still not a
full-fledged democracy. Political system remains in the process of
transition, with frequent adjustments to the balance of power
between the President and Parliament, and proposals ranging from
transforming the country into parliamentary republic to
re-establishing the monarchy.
Observers note the deficit of trust in relations between the
Government and the opposition. Different opinions exist regarding
the degree of political freedom in Georgia. President Saakashvili believes that the country is
essentially free, many opposition leaders claim that Georgia is a
dictatorship, and Freedom House puts Georgia in the group of
partly free countries, along with countries like Turkey and Bosnia.

Foreign relations

Georgia
maintains good relations with its direct neighbours Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey and
participates actively in regional organizations, such as the Black
Sea Economic Council and the GUAM.Georgia
also maintains political, economic and military relations with
Japan, South
Korea, Israel, Ukraine and many other countries. The growing US and
European Union influence in Georgia, notably through proposed EU
and NATO membership, the US Train and Equip military
assistance program and the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,
have frequently strained Tbilisi's relations with Moscow. Georgia's
decision to boost its presence in the coalition forces in Iraq was
an important initiative.

Georgia
is currently working to become a full member of NATO. In August 2004, the Individual Partnership
Action Plan of Georgia was submitted officially to NATO. On October
29, 2004, the North Atlantic
Council of NATO approved the Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) of Georgia and Georgia moved on
to the second stage of Euro-Atlantic Integration. In 2005, by the
decision of the President of
Georgia, a state commission was set up to implement the
Individual Partnership Action Plan, which presents an
interdepartmental group headed by the Prime Minister. The
Commission was tasked with coordinating and controlling the
implementation of the Individual Partnership Action Plan.

On
February 14, 2005, the agreement on the appointment of Partnership for Peace (PfP) liaison
officer between Georgia and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization came into force, whereby a liaison officer for the
South Caucasus was assigned to Georgia. On March 2, 2005,
the agreement was signed on the provision of the host nation
support to and transit of NATO forces and NATO personnel.
On March
6-9, 2006, the IPAP implementation interim assessment team arrived
in Tbilisi. On April 13, 2006, the discussion of the
assessment report on implementation of the Individual Partnership
Action Plan was held at NATO Headquarters, within 26+1 format. In
2006, the Georgian parliament voted unanimously for the bill which
calls for integration of Georgia into NATO. The majority of
Georgians and politicians in Georgia support the push for NATO
membership. Currently, it is expected that Georgia will join NATO
in 2009.

From the
European commission website: President Saakashvili views membership of the EU and NATO as a long
term priority.As he does not want Georgia to become an
arena of Russia-US confrontation he seeks to maintain close
relations with the United
States and European Union, at the same time underlining
his ambitions to advance co-operation with Russia.

On October 2, 2006, Georgian and the European Union signed a joint
statement on the agreed text of the Georgia-European Union Action
Plan within the European
Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The Action Plan was formally approved at the
EU-Georgia Cooperation Council session on November 14, 2006 in
Brussels.

On February 2, 2007, Georgia officially became the most recent
regional member of the Asian
Development Bank. They currently hold 12,081 shares in the
bank, 0.341 percent of the total.

Military

Georgian Special Forces

Georgia's military is organized into land, air,
maritime, special forces and national guard branches. They are
collectively known as the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF). The mission
and functions of the GAF are based on the Constitution of Georgia,
Georgia’s Law on Defense and National Military Strategy, and
international agreements to which Georgia is signatory. They are
performed under the guidance and authority of the Ministry of
Defense.

Since coming to power in 2004, Saakashvili has boosted spending on
the country's armed forces and increased its overall size to around
45,000. Of that figure, 12,000 have been trained in advanced
techniques by U.S. military instructors, under the Georgia Train and Equip
Program. Some of these troops have been stationed in
Iraq as part of the international coalition in the
region, serving in Baqubah and the Green Zone of Baghdad. In May 2005, the 13th
"Shavnabada" Light Infantry Battalion became the first full
battalion to serve outside of Georgia. This unit was responsible
for two checkpoints to the Green Zone, and provided security for
the Iraqi Parliament. In October 2005, the unit was replaced by the
21st Infantry Battalion. Soldiers of the 13th
"Shavnabada" Light Infantry Battalion wear the "combat patches"
of the American unit they served under, the Third Infantry Division.

Since the
fall of the USSR in 1991,
Georgia embarked on a major structural reform designed to
transition to a free market
economy. However, as with all other post-Soviet states, Georgia faced a
severe economic collapse. The civil war and military conflicts in
South
Ossetia and Abkhazia aggravated the crisis. The agriculture and
industry output diminished. By 1994 the gross domestic product had shrunk to
a quarter of that of 1989.

As of 2001 54% of the population lived below the national poverty line but by 2006 poverty decreased to
34%. In 2005 average monthly income of a household was GEL 347
(about 200 USD).

Rkinis Rigi (iron row) in Old
Tbilisi

Since early 2000s visible positive developments have been observed
in the economy of Georgia. In 2007 Georgia's real GDP growth rate reached 12%, making Georgia
one of the fastest growing economies
in Eastern Europe. The World Bank dubbed
Georgia "the number one economic reformer in the world" because it
has in one year improved from rank 112th to 18th in terms of
ease of doing business.
However, the country has high unemployment rate of 12.6% and has fairly
low median income compared
to European countries.

The 2006
ban on imports of Georgian wine to
Russia, one of Georgia's biggest trading partners, and break of
financial links was described by the IMF Mission as an "external
shock", In addition, Russia increased the price of gas for Georgia.
This was followed by the spike in the Georgian lari's rate of inflation. The
National Bank of Georgia stated that the inflation was mainly
triggered by external reasons, including Russia’s economic embargo.
The Georgian authorities expected that the current account deficit
the embargo would cause in 2007 would be financed by "higher
foreign exchange proceeds generated by the large inflow of foreign
direct investment" and an increase in tourist revenues. The country
has also maintained a solid credit in international market
securities.

Georgia is becoming more integrated
into the global trading network: its 2006 imports and exports
account for 10% and 18% of GDP respectively. Georgia's main imports
are natural gas, oil
products, machinery and parts, and
transport equipment.

Since coming to power Saakashvili administration accomplished a
series of reforms aimed at improving tax collection. Among other
things a flat income tax was
introduced in 2004 As a result budget revenues have increased
fourfold and a once large budget
deficit has turned into surplus.

The 1989 census recorded 341,000 ethnic Russians, or 6.3% of the population,
52,000 Ukrainians and 100,000 Greeks in Georgia. Since 1990, 1.5 million
Georgian nationals left. At least one million immigrants from
Georgia legally or illegally reside in Russia.
Georgia's net migration rate is -4.54, excluding Georgian nationals
who live abroad. Georgia has nonetheless been inhabited by
immigrants from all over the world throughout its independence.
According to 2006 statistics, Georgia gets
most of its immigrants from Turkey and People's
Republic of China.

Architecture and arts

Georgian architecture has been influenced by many civilizations.
There are several different architectural styles for castles, towers, fortifications and churches. The Upper Svaneti fortifications, and the castle town of Shatili in Khevsureti, are some of the finest examples of medieval
Georgian castle architecture.

Georgian ecclesiastic art is one of the most fascinating aspects of
Georgian Christian architecture, which combines classical dome style with original basilica style forming what is known as the
Georgian cross-dome style. Cross-dome architecture developed in
Georgia during the 9th century; before that, most Georgian churches
were basilicas. Other examples of Georgian ecclesiastic
architecture can be found outside Georgia: Bachkovo
Monastery in Bulgaria (built in 1083 by the Georgian
military commander Grigorii Bakuriani), Iviron monastery in Greece (built by Georgians in the 10th
century), and the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem (built by Georgians in the 9th
century).

Other
architectural aspects of Georgia include Rustaveli avenue in Tbilisi in the Hausmann style, and the Old Town
District.

Society

Cuisine

Georgian cuisine and wine have evolved through the centuries,
adapting traditions in each era. One of the most unusual traditions
of dining is Supra, or Georgian table, which is
also a way of socialising with friends and family. The head of
Supra is known as Tamada. He also
conducts the highly philosophical toasts, and makes sure that
everyone is enjoying themselves. Various historical regions of Georgia
are known for their particular dishes: for example, Khinkali (meat dumplings), from eastern mountainous
Georgia, and Khachapuri, mainly from
Imereti, Samegrelo and
Adjara.

In
addition to traditional Georgian dishes, the foods of other
countries have been brought to Georgia by immigrants from Russia, Greece, and recently China.

Education

The education system of Georgia has undergone sweeping modernizing,
albeit painful and controversial, reforms since 2004. The adult
literacy rate in Georgia is given as
100%. Education in Georgia is mandatory for all children aged
6–14.

The school system is divided into elementary (6 years; age level
6-12), basic (3 years; age level 12-15), and secondary (2 years;
age level 15-17), or alternatively vocational studies (2 years).
Students with a secondary school certificate have access to higher
education. Only the students who have passed the Unified National
Examinations may enroll in a state-accredited higher education
institution, based on ranking of scores he/she received at the
exams. Most of these institutions offer three level studies: a
Bachelor's Programme (3–4 years); a Master's Programme (2 years),
and a Doctoral Programme (3 years). There is also a Certified
Specialist's Programme that represents a single-level higher
education programme lasting for 3–6 years. As of 2008, 20 higher
education institutions are accredited by the Ministry of Education
and Science of Georgia. Gross
primary enrollment ratio was 94% for the period of
2001-2006.

Despite the long history of religious harmony in Georgia, there
have been several instances of religious discrimination in the past
decade — such as acts of violence against Jehovah's Witnesses and threats against
adherents of other "nontraditional faiths" by followers of the
defrocked Orthodox priest Vasil
Mkalavishvili.

Sports

Among the most popular sports in Georgia are football, basketball, rugby
union, wrestling, hockey and weightlifting.
Historically, Georgia has been famous for its physical education;
it is known that the Romans were
fascinated with Georgians' physical qualities after seeing the
training techniques of ancient Iberia. Wrestling remains a historically
important sport of Georgia, and some historians think that the
Greco-Roman style of wrestling
incorporates many Georgian elements. Within Georgia, one of the
most popularized styles of wrestling is the Kakhetian style.
However, there were a number of other styles in the past that are
not as widely used today. For example, the Khevsureti region of Georgia has three different styles of
wrestling. Other popular sports in 19th century Georgia were
polo, and lelo, a traditional Georgian game
later replaced by rugby union.